GSG-9

The GSG-9, formally the Border Protection Group 9 of the Federal Police, is a counter-terrorism and special forces unit of Germany. With about 250 operators, GSG-9 has been sent on over 1,500 missions, although they only officially discharged their weapons five times (before the Iraq War: 1977 in Mogadishu, Bad Kleinen in 1993, Aachen in 1999, and two times to shoot the dogs of people being arrested. The 1977 rescue of Lufthansa Flight 181 in Mogadishu, Somalia was the unit's first operation, and it carried out several anti-terrorism operations against aircraft hijackers as well as tracking down fugitives. In 2002, it made anti-terror arrests following 9/11, and it took part in anti-crime operations as well.